Boulogne-Billancourt, France-based pipe- and tube-maker Vallourec announced on September 29 that its subsidiary Valinox Nucléaire will build a new facility to produce steam generator tubes in Nansha, Guangdong, China.
The company said that this new capacity is intended to accompany the fast-growing Chinese nuclear power program, for which the installed capacity is expected to grow from 15GW to over 100GW in 2020.
This project will complement the extension currently underway at the Valinox Nucléaire plant in Montbard, France, where production capacity is set to triple in 2011. When operations in Nansha begin during the second half of 2012, Vallourec's total offer of steam generator tubing will then increase from 5,000 km to close to 7,000 km per year.
The new facility, which represents an investment of €55 million, will employ 200 people.
Philippe Crouzet, chairman of Vallourec's management board, stated, "This investment enables us to strengthen our leadership position in high technology tubes. By bringing us even closer to our customers, it will also provide us with a strong competitive advantage. Our French and Chinese mills will then fully benefit from the renaissance of the nuclear market."